It Was Just A Bet
by spaceman-earthgirl
Summary: Esposito bets that Castle won't tell Beckett how he feels about her. Little did Esposito know that they were already dating. Caskett fluff. Proposal fic.
1. Chapter 1

This is a two-shot and I'll post the 2nd chapter in the next day or so.

If you have any prompts just review and let me know because I'm going to run out of ideas soon and I'm really enjoying writing Castle fanfics. I've posted a couple in the last few days so check them out :)

AU-ish. Set mid season 4 but Beckett didn't get shot at the end of season 3.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.**

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They were at the precinct when Ryan and Esposito invited Castle and Beckett out to drinks that night. Lanie and Jenny were also going and they were going to make a night out of it together. Beckett declined saying she already had a date with her boyfriend that evening and Castle declined saying he was planning to write since he had a chapter due.

XXX

Castle sat alone drinking at The Old Haunt. He'd told the boys that he was going to be writing but in truth he already had plans that night with his girlfriend. Castle and Beckett had been dating for a year now and in fact, it was their one year anniversary today which is why they wanted to spend it together. They were keeping their relationship a secret but they were planning to tell everyone soon, especially if Castle's plans for the evening were successful. Castle knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kate and he hoped that tonight, she'd agree to spending the rest of their lives together. They were meeting at The Old Haunt for a drink before they went out for dinner to celebrate their anniversary.

He was sitting at the bar waiting for Kate to arrive. He patted his pocket to ensure he still had the ring. As nervous as he was about what he was about to do, he was also very excited. He knew without a doubt that he wanted to marry her and he couldn't wait to tell her that. He had his whole speech planned and was currently practicing it in his mind. In truth, he'd been planning his proposal since their first date together which had been at this very bar, which is why he was going to propose here.

He kept glancing at the door, knowing that she'd be here soon. He'd offered to pick her up but she had said she'd wanted to meet him here instead since it's where they had their first official date. So when Castle heard the door open, he looked up, hoping to see Kate Beckett walk through the door. What he didn't expect to see was Ryan, Esposito, Lanie and Jenny to walk in. Castle was too late to try and slip out unseen when Ryan noticed him sitting at the bar by himself.

"Castle, what are you doing here? I thought you had to write tonight?" questioned Ryan, thinking Castle was just slacking off. But if he didn't want to be writing, why did he decline their invitation for drinks?

"I…." Castle couldn't come up with a good reason for being there alone, especially after he'd declined their invitation out, without bringing up Beckett.

"It's okay bro, I understand. Drowning your sorrows since Beckett is out on a hot date right? We all know how you feel about her, so why not just tell her the truth?" Castle hadn't been expecting Esposito to say something like that.

Before Castle could reply to Javier, Lanie cut in, "Javi, don't be so mean and I'm sorry Castle, but you really should've made your move a long time ago, I did tell you that. And it does seem like she really likes the guy she's with now." She looked sadly at Castle, wishing him and Beckett had had a chance together but nevertheless, she as still happy for her best friend who seemed happy with this other guy, even if she wouldn't tell her who he was.

"Castle wasn't man enough to just tell her he liked her," said Esposito laughing, he'd obviously had a bit to drink, "And I bet you'd still be too scared to tell her now."

"Leave him alone Espo, he's probably upset enough without you rubbing his face in it," said Ryan, trying to pull his best friend over to a table to leave Castle in peace.

"You know what," said Castle, an idea forming in his mind, "I'm going to tell Beckett how I feel, just to prove you wrong."

Esposito laughed at him, "I bet you wouldn't, you wouldn't have the guts."

"Do you want to bet on it then?" asked Castle. Of course he would win this, there was no way he could lose since he told Beckett that he loved her all the time and they were already planning on telling everyone about their relationship, so why not do it this way?

"You want to put your money where your mouth is?" Esposito challenged. He didn't believe Castle would actually say anything to Beckett, not after all the chances he'd had to and besides, she was already in a relationship.

"I say we bet on something other than money." After thinking for a moment, Castle continued, "If you win, you can borrow my Ferrari whenever you want for a month and if I win, you have to do most of Beckett's paper work for a month, deal?" asked Castle. This way if Beckett had less paper work to do, they could spend more time together.

"Why would you want that?" responded Esposito, confused by Castle's bet.

"Well, if it turns out she likes me back, then we're going to want all the free time we can have, right?" answered Castle, winking at Esposito which caused him to cringe. He really didn't want to think about what Castle wanted to do with Beckett in their free time.

Castle was now facing away from the door so it was Esposito who saw Beckett enter the bar first.

"So, the bet is that next time you see her, you have to tell her how you feel, right?" asked Espostio, knowing that Castle wouldn't go through with it right now, especially with having no time to prepare.

"Deal," said Castle, extending his hand for Esposito to shake, which he did. Castle knew that Beckett would be arriving any minute, he just hoped she would forgive him for what he was about to do in front of their friends. He patted his pocket again and yes, the ring was still there.

Lanie, Ryan and Jenny were all watching in interest as they had just seen Beckett walk through the door.

"Well, you're in luck bro, because she's just walked through the door," said Esposito, trying to hold in his laughter. He knew either way he'd win the bet, it was just a matter of how much Castle was going to embarrass himself first. Things were about to get very interesting.

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Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought and again, prompts are welcome! :)


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't expect that big of a response so thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!

I'm thinking of doing a bunch of one shots related to this with Beckett and Castle almost getting caught in their relationship in the year they kept it a secret. Let me know if you'd be interested in something like that.

And thanks to the guest reviewer who noticed my mistake of saying Porsche instead of Ferrari, it's been fixed. Anyway, enjoy!

**Edit: **So Very Close is the sort of sequel to this fic.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.**

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Beckett walked in through the doors of The Old Haunt and was surprised to see that not only was Castle there, but so was Espo, Ryan, Lanie and Jenny. Castle stood up and made his way toward her as she entered. Castle made sure that the others were still in ear shot, he wanted them to hear what he was about to say.

Beckett gave Castle a confused look, she had no idea why the guys were here or what was going on.

"Trust me, just play along," Castle whispered, glancing back in the direction of their friends, and the look in Castle's eyes told Beckett that he was up to something so she nodded her agreement. "There is something I have to tell you," Castle continued, louder this time so the others could hear too.

"Kate, I know when we first met, you didn't like me very much but that was only because you saw my public persona, and not the real me. And originally I did just want to sleep with you because, let's face it, you're gorgeous," Beckett had to laugh at that but she had no idea where he was going with this. She already knew everything that he was saying, they'd talked about it before. But it must be something to do with why their friends were listening so intently to their conversation. It seemed that Castle had decided to go public with their relationship. He probably should've talked to her about it first but he was obviously up to something and she was interested to see exactly what that something was.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I think you've gotten to know the real me over the last few years, just like I've gotten to know you and, well, I've developed certain feelings for you due to our close partnership," he was acting really nervous but Beckett could tell that's what it was, an act. This must be why the others were listening. Possibly they'd dared Castle to tell her how he felt, maybe there was a bet involved even. Of course they didn't know that they were already dating so completing the challenge for Castle was easy.

Esposito groaning behind Castle confirmed Beckett's theory.

"Do you have a crush on me, Castle?" asked Beckett, trying to hold in her laughter. If Castle was going to spring something big like telling their friends about their relationship on her like this then she was going to have a bit of fun herself.

This is what Esposito was waiting for, even if he'd lost the bet, Castle getting turned down by Beckett would be entertaining.

"I think it's a little bit more than a crush detective, but you know that" answered Castle. If Beckett was going to have fun with this then so was he. Castle was trying to build himself up for the question he would ask soon so this light banter was helping to relax him.

"And as you know Castle, I have a boyfriend-"Castle cut Beckett off.

"I know you have a boyfriend, but how strongly do you feel about him? Castle asked, he was enjoying this and this way he could get Beckett to say how she felt about him, even though he already knew.

"I'm in love with him if you must know," replied Beckett, noticing how Castle's eyes softened when she answered.

"Well that's good to hear," answered Castle, and then the look in his eyes changed, grew more intense and while she knew he was telling the truth all along, his words had been for the benefit of their friends but now they were just for her.

"I love you Kate, so much, and I want everyone to know that. A year ago today when you first agreed to go out with me, I couldn't have been happier," said Castle, taking Beckett's hand in his own. Of course now their friends were confused. A year ago? What was Castle talking about? "And I hope that that was the last first date I ever have to go on."

"Castle…" Beckett trailed off when Castle knelt down on one knee, pulling the ring from his pocket.

Beckett's heart was pounding in her chest when she realised what he was about to do. So maybe she would've liked to tell her friends about their relationship before this stage but right now the only thing that mattered was the man kneeling in front of her.

"Kate," said Castle, as he opened the ring box and pulled out the ring, "I know it hasn't been long but I'm more sure about this than I've been about anything else in my entire life. I want to marry and spend the rest of my life with you. So Katherine Beckett, will you marry me?"

Beckett's hand was shaking as she reached forward and placed her hand on Castle's cheek. "Castle," she whispered as a tear slid down her own cheek. "Yes, of course yes," she continued, her voice a bit louder now.

And before Beckett knew what was happening, Castle was up off his knees and pulling Beckett into a fierce hug and he whispered "I love you" beside her ear. He released Beckett from his grip to take her hand again, this time to slide the ring onto her ring finger. Castle was grinning from ear to ear when Beckett looked back up at him after admiring the ring. Of course she couldn't contain her smile either. While she was generally a very private person, Beckett couldn't ignore the fact that Castle had proposed to her in the place where they'd had their first date which was pretty romantic. And she was pretty relieved that they could finally stop hiding their relationship from their friends.

She leaned forward then, capturing his lips in a kiss and showing that she forgave him for telling their friends about them this way. He kissed back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He was so relieved that she'd said yes and he couldn't help pulling her even closer at the thought, smiling into their kiss.

They pulled apart, both grinning at each other like idiots, still wrapped in each other's arms.

"Something you want to tell us bro?" asked Esposito, breaking them out of the little bubble they seemed to be in and reminding them that they were, in fact, standing in a crowded bar.

"I'm getting married?" replied Castle sheepishly, knowing that that was not what Esposito was referring to.

"So maybe I cheated a bit?" continued Castle. Of course he'd cheated, Beckett already had known how Castle had felt about her which was the whole point of the bet.

"Just for that Ryan and I can use the Ferrari anytime we want for the next month," replied Esposito, he wasn't letting Castle out of the deal that easily and he really wanted to use the Ferrari.

"Fine," Castle agreed since he did sort of cheat.

"And congrats bro, and you too , Beckett," said Esposito as he hugged them both.

All the others took turns to hug and congratulate the newly engaged couple as well.

While Lanie was upset that Beckett hadn't told her sooner, she couldn't deny that Kate had been a lot happier this past year. She'd assumed it was due to Beckett's mystery boyfriend but she hadn't guessed that Castle was said boyfriend. But she made Beckett promise to tell her everything in detail later since she'd missed out on a year of gossip; they had a lot of catching up to do.

Dinner plans forgotten, all six of them sat in The Old Haunt listening to Beckett and Castle's stories from the past year of hiding their relationship and the times they were almost caught. Both were also extremely relieved that they didn't have to hide their relationship any more and that they could show the world that they were in love.

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Thanks for reading and let me know what you thought. Also, if you are interested in more related to this story as I mentioned earlier, let me know :)


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